Reinforcing Good Study Habits
with Your Kids
-By: Ms. Nyan & Ms. Tse
Holmquist Counselors
Images are from Animationfactory.com
Introduction
Many capable children at all grade levels experience
frustration.
It's not because they lack ability, but because they do
not have adequate study skills.
Good study habits are important for success in school.
Images are from Animationfactory.com
Why are Good Study Habits Important?
 Knowing how to study effectively fosters feelings of
competence, develops positive attitudes, and helps
children realize they can control how well they do in
school and in life.
 Good study habits also lay the groundwork for successful
work habits as an adult.
Images are from Animationfactory.com
Enhance Study Skills
 Children need to discover how they learn best, work out a study system
that fits their learning style, and use that system regularly.
 Four Basic Principles to Enhance Study Skills:
1) Make doing homework a positive experience: associate it with love
and affection, freedom, fun and self-control.
2) Make homework a high priority.
3) Use homework to teach organization skills and improve learning
skills. Remember that the primary purpose of homework is to
improve learning and foster work habits.
4) Set expectations for homework, then provide and enforce logical,
meaningful consequences if those expectations are not met.
Images are from Animationfactory.com
Make Doing Homework a Positive
Experience
 Provide support and praise for homework completion.
 Be available to provide non-critical assistance.
 Give children choices in when, where, and how they complete
homework assignments.
 Encourage your children to complete homework well enough
that they have a sense of pride and control over their own
learning and levels of competence.
Images are from Animationfactory.com
Helping Your Child with Homework
 Maintain a positive and helpful attitude: avoid criticism and anger.
 Help children understand what types of homework they enjoy, and
encourage them to do assignments accordingly.
 Use homework preferences in developing a homework schedule.
Some children prefer to complete the assignments they like least
first, while others prefer to do their easier or favorite work first.
Images are from Animationfactory.com
Helping your Child Finish Homework
 If a child dislikes a subject, find ways to make it less frustrating. For
example, set a goal of doing five math problems and then taking a
stretch, listening briefly to music, or playing with a preferred game or
toy being continuing to finish the assignment.
 Demonstrate, and enforce, that completing homework is a higher
priority than other activities.
 Reduce activities if a child has so many commitments that there is
insufficient time or energy for homework.
Images are from Animationfactory.com
Homework Help
 Have a helper at home available for every subject. This might
be a parent, neighbor, friend, or a tutor. The helper needs to be
someone who is knowledgeable about the subject and who can
help the child without becoming frustrated or angry.
 Establish a family expectation that studying for exams is
expected and takes priority over other activities.
Images are from Animationfactory.com
Make Study Time Fun
 Encourage your child to have fun, such as eating a snack, calling
friends, starting an activity, playing a computer game, or
watching a favorite show when homework is finished.
 Never use homework as a punishment.
 Be a good listener, and encourage your child to ask questions
about things that are hard to understand.
Images are from Animationfactory.com
Study Time Tips
 Set aside time for your children to share the skills and
information they are acquiring with you.
 Help children study for tests by quizzing them on the material
in a friendly manner. "Drive time" in the car is a great setting for
this.
 Have your children imagine themselves as excellent students.
Then brainstorm what needs to be done to make that a reality.
Images are from Animationfactory.com
Establish a Study Routine
Make clear that you expect your children to complete
homework well.
Establish a study routine. Children should be in the
habit of studying at the same time and in the same
place each day. Children and parents should decide
on the study routine together.
Images are from Animationfactory.com
Designate a Study Place
 Establish a place to study with good lighting and a table or desk.
 Some children prefer to study in their own room while others do better
if they are studying at the kitchen table or other location near parental
help.
 Have supplies/equipment on hand including binders, notebooks, paper,
pencils, pens, assignment books, erasers, dictionaries, a calculator, ruler,
computer, tape, glue, reference books and/or software programs.
Images are from Animationfactory.com
Have Fun with Your Child
 Reinforcing good study habits with your kids is important, but it
is equally important for you to have fun with your child and
make learning a fun process for your child.
Thank you for coming to the parent workshop!
Images are from Animationfactory.com